This resource page presents funding strategies that states have used or advocates have proposed for their healthy soils programs. For each funding mechanism, we provide a description, real-world examples where available, and key considerations for advocates.

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Related resources:

State Healthy Soils Programs and Related Initiatives

Healthy Soils Policy: Types & Strategic Value

Advancing Soil Health Without New Appropriations

Messaging: Soil Health and Fiscal Responsibility

Paper - Legal Pathways to Carbon-Neutral Agriculture (Lehner and Rosenberg, 2019)

**Developing Community-Driven State Soil Health Policy and Programs (**Yale, 2021), Pages 32-35

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🏛️ Public Revenue Mechanisms

💰 State Budget & Bond-Based Funding

🌱 District, Programmatic, or Partnership Approaches

🌊 Water and Resilience-Driven Mechanisms

🏛️ Federal Leverage & Policy Optimization

📈 Incentive-Based Mechanisms

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Questions to ask when considering funding sources

Excerpted from page 32 of **Developing Community-Driven State Soil Health Policy and Programs (**Yale, 2021)

• What is the long-term sustainability of the funds?
• How will you ensure adequate capital?
• Can you start a pilot project to demonstrate success and then ask the legislature for more permanent funding?
• What will fiscal accountability for the funding look like?
• Who benefits from the money?
• Is the funding source stable or volatile?
• What kind of funds does the coalition need for its particular goals?
• What tax status do you need to establish? Are you a nonprofit or an advocacy group?
• Who is giving the money to the producers?
• How many hands does it go through?
• Are there restrictions on how the money is used?
• What tradeoffs have you identified in appealing to restricted funding sources, and can working groups develop strategies to mitigate these tradeoffs?
• How can you encourage producers to share equipment or other resources through mutual aid? </aside>

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Authorship & Curation

This resource was compiled by the National Healthy Soils Policy Network as an “idea bank” for organizers and policymakers advocating for state-level healthy soils programs. It synthesizes examples from existing state programs, proposed legislation, and relevant public policy research. We are grateful to the many members of the National Healthy Soils Policy Network and allied organizations whose legislative campaigns and program development informed this resource.

Key policy insights and examples are drawn from:

• Existing strategy documents and output of meetings of the National Network
• Advocacy and policy reports from Earthjustice, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), Pasa Sustainable Agriculture, and OEFFA
• Peter Lehner and Nathan Rosenberg’s chapter "Agriculture" in Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (2019)
• **Developing Community-Driven State Soil Health Policy and Programs (**Yale, 2021) </aside>

About the National Healthy Soils Policy Network: A network of farmer-led organizations working to advance policies that support healthy soils and climate-friendly agriculture. We serve as a hub for model policies, organizing tools, and farmer-driven narratives shaping a just and resilient agricultural future.

The National Network is a project of the California Climate and Agriculture Network (CalCAN). To learn more or get involved, please visit:

National Healthy Soils Policy Network

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